Three reporters and a SHO were allegedly involved in accepting bribe from a call centre owner. The four accused were caught red-handed as the SSP entered the Noida Sector 20 police station with his team.

The SHO had asked for the bribe in exchange for removing the call centre owner's name from an FIR (Representative Image).&nbsp | &nbspPhoto Credit:&nbspGetty Images

Noida: A rather embarrassing incident came to light when Manoj Pant, the SHO of Noida Sector 20 police station was caught taking bribe. The accused was caught taking Rs 8 lakh from a call-centre owner for removing his name from an FIR. As if the incident was not shameful enough, there were apparently three reporters present when the infamous act was being performed.

Allegedly, Pushpendra Chauhan, the owner of a call centre filed a complaint with the SSP where he accused reporters and the SHO of threatening him. After receiving the complaint, the SSP, Vaibhav Krishna decided to catch the accused. For the operation, he drafted two teams having two circle officers, four inspectors and eight more officers.

According to the Times of India's report, the officers were not allowed to take their phones to the meeting and an anti-corruption unit was also informed for assistance. All this while, Chauhan was still in contact with Jeetendra, Raman Thakur and Udit Goyal, the accused reporters. Initially, the deal was worth Rs 10 lakh after which a meeting was also fixed.

Allegedly, a token amount worth Rs 2 lakh was also given to one of the reporters, Sushil Pandit in order to schedule a meeting with the accused SHO. After making sure that they were not being followed, Pandit and Thakur got into a car while Chauhan and Goyal got into another. The police also alleged that Goyal was carrying a pistol with him. The car which had Pandit and Thakur entered the police station while the car with Chauhan and Goyal remained parked outside for the verification of notes.

After verifying the notes, Goyal and Chauhan went inside the police station and while the bribe was being accepted, SP (Rural) entered the police station along with circle officer 1 Kaustabh Kumar and the SSP. While the SHO stated that he was being framed, cases under sections 7, 8 and 13 (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Section 384 (extortion) of the IPC and Section 30 of the Arms Act have been filed against the accused.

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Noida: Corrupt lawmakers and reporters caught red-handed after 14-hour operationDescription:Three reporters and a SHO were allegedly involved in accepting bribe from a call centre owner. The four accused were caught red-handed as the SSP entered the Noida Sector 20 police station with his team.Times Now